Ferrari Mailing List: Everyone of you

[Clarence Romero Jr. (clyderomerof4]

No I didn’t write this but I should have

What he has written is what I say all the time

Drive the damn cars and stop washing them 

They were made to be driven and they work better when driven

Read it an heed !

I love Ferrari’s and I’ve had the fever ever since 1985 when I bought my first one, a meager Mondial 8. Subsequently I’ve owned 26 of them including a 308, 328, 355’5, 360’s, 430’s, 512BBI, 550’s, 599, 612 and F40. I enjoyed every one of them, but never kept any of them very long, particularly the three pedal cars that fell out of favor when the F1 shifter came along. Regrettably my attention span was too short. For all who are first-time Ferrari buyers, here are some lessons I learned the hard way. Don’t be fooled about a car just because of its striking eye appeal and seductive sounds. You can never know too much about a used Ferrari’s history. Don’t automatically assume that a low odometer reading is the key to trouble free motoring. My F40 was spotless and trouble free for all of its 23,000 miles. My 7,000 mile 86 Testarossa broke a cam belt a mile from my house on the way home from a 500 mile trip. Nothing uglier than the sound of 24 valves slapping against a bank of six pistons. The repair bill of $13,000 25 years ago sounds like chump change today. My gorgeous brand new 2000 Maranello with just 200 miles on the odometer spun the bearing off the harmonic balancer and stayed on a three month sabbatical in the dealer’s service department awaiting new parts from the factory. Fortunately it was under warranty. Cruising along the interstate on a beautiful Saturday back in 2008 in my 612 Scaglietti, something went awry and the F1 mechanism failed. In sixth gear at 70 mph not much of a problem, except it now can’t be shifted. That means when I get into the inevitable traffic I have to pull off onto the shoulder and watch it die. Rather embarrassing to have everyone driving by rubbernecking my $300k Ferrari being loaded onto a flatbed. The car had just turned 5,000 miles on the odo and was two weeks out of warranty. Fortunately my authorized dealer got it covered while I awaited delivery of my new 599. The point of all this self-flagellation is that things can go badly wrong on any of these exotics and when they do, the owner needs to be prepared emotionally and financially to deal with it. Ferrari’s that are driven regularly, faithfully maintained and serviced stand a better chance of providing and enjoyable experience. When they sit unused for long periods of time all manner of automotive disease sets in. The most effective vaccine to kill Ferrari fever is a busted coolant hose leading to an $80,000 repair bill on a $100,000 car. All that being said, this 575 is seductive and the buyer will hopefully have a good experience.

     RF4-4EVR

Scars are Tattoos with better stories !

If you have no enemies, you have no character !

Clyde Romero    

Confidentiality Notice:  This e-mail ( including attachments ) is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U. S. C., Sections 2510-2521, and is intended only for the persons or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain confidential or privileged material.  Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, dissemination, copying, forwarding or distribution is prohibited.

This email transmission, and any documents, files or previous email messages attached to it, may contain confidential information that is priviledged.  If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the information containes in or attached to this message is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.  If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us by reply e-mail at Clyderomerof4 [at] gmail.com or  by telephone at (678 6419932)and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading them or saving them to disk.

     RF4-4EVR

Scars are Tattoos with better stories !

If you have no enemies, you have no character !

Clyde Romero    

Confidentiality Notice:  This e-mail ( including attachments ) is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U. S. C., Sections 2510-2521, and is intended only for the persons or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain confidential or privileged material.  Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, dissemination, copying, forwarding or distribution is prohibited.

This email transmission, and any documents, files or previous email messages attached to it, may contain confidential information that is priviledged.  If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the information containes in or attached to this message is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.  If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us by reply e-mail at Clyderomerof4 [at] gmail.com or  by telephone at (678 6419932)and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading them or saving them to disk.